German Plum Crumb Bars

Step 1

Set aside 1/2 cup of the flour. Combine all other dough ingredients with the dough hook of your mixer until smooth and satiny. Only use remaining flour if needed.

Step 2

Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rise in a warm, draft free spot for 30 minutes (it should about double in size). You can preheat your oven to 200 F, then turn the oven off and let the dough rise inside the warm oven.

Step 3

We are only using half of the yeast dough for this cake. You can wrap the other half and freeze for later use, or double the filling and crumb ingredients to make 2 crumb cakes.

Step 4

Roll out half the dough to cover the bottom of a lined or greased 9x13-inch baking pan. Let dough rise for another 10 minutes.

Step 5

Preheat oven to 350 F. Drain plums well if using canned.

Step 6

To make the crumb topping, add all ingredients to a bowl and rub them together by hand into the butter until large crumbs form.

Step 7

Spread pitted plums over the dough and top with fairly large crumbs. Bake for 30-35 minutes until crumbs are golden brown.